Sims 3 manual super patch for Mac 1.67

Sometimes just re-downloading and reinstalling the super patch can make your game work again. With Apple’s Gatekeeper feature now built into OS X this can prove a bit of a challenge depending on what your security settings are. Firstly, here are the links to the super patch depending on what version of the game you use – disc or digital:

It’s very important that you download the relevant patch, do not download the disc version if you are playing a digital version of the game and vice versa. You should now have a file in your Downloads folder that looks like this (I’ve downloaded the digital version):

Double click on the download. Archive Utility should automatically start unzipping the file and you should get a pop up showing the progress:

If Archive Utility doesn’t open and the file doesn’t unzip properly, download Stuffit Expanderfrom the App Store, it’s free and will successfully unzip the file.

Once unzipped you will see the patch ready to install in your Downloads folder. It has a little plumbob as the file icon:

Now double click on the plumbob file. Depending on your Gatekeeper settings, you may get an error message saying the file cannot be identified because it is from an unidentified developer:

Don’t panic! This is a security feature built into OS X. Navigate to System Preferences > Security & Privacy and make sure you’re in the General tab. In the bottom half of the window you should see your Gatekeeper preferences: Click on Open Anyway as we know that file is the super patch. If you don’t see the above you need to click on the lock in the bottom left corner of the window, enter your password when prompted (your user account must be an Admin account) and change the ‘Allow apps downloaded from:’ setting to Anywhere. Remember to change it back afterwards!

You will now get another warning window, just click Open:

macOS Sierra 10.12 and later:Gatekeeper now only allows Mac App Store and Identified Developers installations, you will not get the Anywhere option in System Preferences. You need to hold down the CTRL key and click on the extracted file to open it. You will see the following dialogue box:

Click on Open to install the patch.

The patch will open and a window will appear asking you where the game is. Navigate to Applications > The Sims 3 > The Sims 3 then click Update:

Now just let it do it’s thing. You’ll see a little window showing the update progress:

And that’s it, you’ve now successfully patched your game to the most recent patch, 1.67. You can check it’s patched ok by opening the Launcher and looking at the patch number in the bottom left of the window:

I have been trying to download the expansion packs onto my macbook, but when i download them and open them they say “no disc found” or “insert Seasons disc” even if thats the disc thats in there. Ive tried the patch but it does the same thing. Any suggestions as to what i should do? (Also when I did use the patch it only updated to 1.67.2.024001)

Im downloading from your universal link I also get a .tgz , have downloaded from elsewhere last night it was also a .tgz file but didn’t open or do anything when extracted and plumbob was clicked… 😦 Thought best option was redownload… hopefully this works. Its been three years Ive been so excited to get this working again.

Will I need to redownload and run the super patch when I add an expansion pack? My game won’t load, and I completely uninstalled it. I reinstalled just the base game, and it’s not loading still. I’m going to try the super patch before I spend the time installing each expansion pack. If I run the super patch after installing the base game, should I rerun it after installing each expansion, or after they are all installed?

I was playing the game from disks, and I started getting a “no disk found” error. After uninstalling and reinstalling I followed your instructions a a clean uninstall and got rid of all the Sims 3 files. I downloaded the digital files from Origin but the game won’t load. I click play on the launcher and the game shuts down. I tried the super patch. Any ideas on why it won’t work? It used to play fine from the disks, I know my computer can handle it.

What Mac do you have? And did you use the right patch for the digital version? Have you moved out your Sims 3 folder from Documents > Electronic Arts and tried launching the game from the new folder the game creates?

My Launcher won’t open. I am trying to patch the game but I am having some issues. I am at the point where we need to “open anyways” the plumbob file in system preferences but it doesn’t do anything when I click on it. please help???

When I try to use the patch and I get to the part where I put it in the sims folder it won’t work and a message pops up that says “You cannot apply this patch on this version of the application please re-install” I have already re-installed the sims twice on my computer.

I downloaded the patch successfully, although was unable to install it. I downloaded the stuffit expander, and this completed successfully. Although it says it is unable to expand when I go to click on it again.

I have had a serious problem running the Sims 3 on my Mac–I keep getting the “unknown error occurred” message. The first time, I completed the clean uninstall and re-installed, it ran a couple of times then the message appeared again. I came across your post about the more “Mac-friendly” version of Origin–I went through those steps and the game seemed to run significantly quicker but after slowly playing, then quitting and installing each EP one at a time, it quit on me again. So this time I completely wiped my HD, reinstalled Sierra, and started from scratch re-downloading the more compatible Origin and installing the games–check to see if it was working, it was–then downloading this super patch. I went to launch and the error message appeared again. Please help! Am I doing this in the wrong order? What can I do to fix it? It’s feeling like a lost cause at this point. Your advice is very much appreciated!

Hello! im not sure if my comment posted on the other article but when you said “…reinstalling the game again, patching after the Base game and each subsequent EP and SP if prompted” (macOS Sierra user) after downloading TS3 again and updating it with the patch then downloading an EP do you use the patch on TS3 again or the EP? like when your clicking CTRL, open, applications

So I didn’t read and I installed the super patch for the disc version- can I go over it with the digital patch or should I just uninstall sims 3 with your clean uninstall and start again? I initially had the disc version but I don’t have the means to install with said disk.

So I’ve been having problems ever since the new update (months ago) but this was when I knew nothing about this new super patch. I never opened my Sims 3 game cause I had no motivation to try to fix it. Until recently I bought the Sims 3 University Life Expansion Pack. And I had the worst experience with EA (contacting them in total of 4 times for any troubleshooting). They even left the chat and didn’t email me back for any further assistance. So I decided to just log in as a new Admin account on my Mac.
So far, I was able to download and launch my sims 3 game with and without the super patch. I had no trouble with that, thanks to this lovely post (thank you btw. You are my sim savior). My only concern and question would be redownloading and reinstalling the EP and SP. I’m doing so in the order you stated (First release to Last release) and I’m doing it one by one so far. But I wouldn’t need to apply this new super patch to the EP and SP, right? I do get a message when I’m in the installation process (Game Validation Step) that the Sims 3 game “version installed is more recent than expected” and that the expansion pack being installed “could be incompatible”. I would just hate to have to go through this process and not have my EP and SP not work especially after all the trouble. ):

I am so excited about this solution, as I haven’t been able to play sims on my 2011 Mac in years. I followed all of your instructions, but control clicking is equivalent to right clicking, so when I click open, the plumbob file tries to open normally and gets stuck on “verifying”. I can’t find a way around it. I have OS Sierra.

This site has a lot of great information, but the advocation of super patch has been nothing but a nightmare for me. My game actually worked until installed that and now it will not.

What I had to do previously was I could never run the game by clicking on any of the expansion pack executes, I had to use the base game execute to actually run in it my iMac. I made the foolish mistake of buying Late Night back a couple of days ago before realizing what a catastrophe that was as I could no longer get to the launcher but instead got that annoying application error. I ran super patch to see if that could resolve anything and now super patch will no longer allow me to actually run the game off of the base execute, but it’s now forcing me to use the expansion ones which just produced a black frozen screen.

I’ve uninstalled all of the games, reinstall them, install them off of Origin and via the disks and superpatch keeps forcing itself onto me and I can’t get around it. I followed the instructions on how to clean out all of the information all the library folders and it’s dead. I’m probably going to end up having to reformat my Mac, which I am not looking forward to in the least, but at least this time I can ignore super patch and forget that thing exists.

I downloaded the digital version because I play my games through origin, but I forgot they were put on there as discs. If I installed the disc version over the top would it still run? Because I’ve had major problems running the game in the past and I don’t want to need to stop playing again 😦

You don’t need to play through Origin, even if you downloaded an EP through Origin. Your problems could be for a variety of different reasons, especially if your Mac is a 2013 + model or you are running El Capitan/Sierra.

Hello, so I just recently bought The Sims 3 along with the University Life expansion pack. I was having the same issue as most people in that my Mac wasn’t letting me update to the newest version so I couldn’t even play University Life. I tried downloading the super patch and everything was going fine until I tried to update it and it said “You cannot apply this patch on this version of the application please re-install.” I am using the digital download one because I downloaded the game from Origin and not from a disc so I have no idea what the problem is. Please help!!!

No I’ve never had the disk version, I have a macbook air so theres not even a disk slot. When I uninstalled it I did followed all the instructions in your guide to make sure I uninstalled it correctly.

I can see that the sims 3 is in my applications folder in finder any other time but for some reason when I go to select the file when it says Select “The Sims 3.app” and click update it’s not there. Almost nothing is, just one folder that says Chrome Apps. Any idea what that is about? Thank you!

Is it just me or is it a pain in the ass to actually play the game? So I had long ago the base game and late night in disk version but they got broken, now I have the base game, late night, pets, seasons and just purchase generations all through origin, I installed them a couple of days ago (after a year of having them uninstalled because of the same mistake that happens) I have the base game, seasons, pets and generations installed but when Im in building mode after a while it does like a flash like turns black and quickly returns to the game and it gets frozen to the point that I cant even press ESC or minimize the game and force quit, I have to force quite my computer and restart the game, I uninstalled pets as i thought it was the problem and and installed late night and got the famous “unknown error occurred” I know just got my macbook from getting it service and did the whole cleanly uninstalled going to all the folders and its all gone and good so I wonder which expansions would cause the less trouble Im not picky as long as I have one or maybe two?

Btw this is the first time ever im downloading the universal patch from this link and it also says its a tgz file is that normal?

Thank you so much for providing this support! One of the reasons I always loved Sims 3 was because we all have to support each other. Thank you for taking the time to do this! I’m hoping I’ll be able to enjoy this game again!

I’ve been trying to download the patch for the past 3 hours but it is just stuck at 0.1/1.6GB with 2hrs left. :O

I’ve a mid-2011 imac that is now on Yosemite.Previously on Maverick and Mountain Lion, the game ran with no problems. Since i updated to Yosemite i’ve had a lot of issues surrounding the constant dropping of internet but I could ignore it as long as my games still ran.

Odd thing is my game was running fine on Yosemite until last week when it refuse to open and threw up an error msg. I uninstalled the game and cleared everything and reinstalled just the base game first. The splash screen pops up and it says an update is available so I download it. It stays in the downloading screen for like 2 mins and the progress bar moves a bit (enough to see the green) and then it cancels and says ‘no updates available’. At this stage it doesn’t allow me to even install the expansions (Error message says the expansion in not compatible with the base game i have installed) – My base game and expansions are all purchased from Macgamestore and ran perfectly until i switched to Yosemite. Biggest regret!!!!

So now I’m trying to download the patch and the download isn’t moving for me. 😦

Hi! First of all thank you for your lovely download instructions. Just got a bit trouble at the last step of finding the Sims 3 at the Application folder. Couldn’t find it anywhere. What should I do? I have a macOS Sierra 10.12.3 version and downloaded the digital download link. Thank you so much! BTW cause I can’t find the sims 3 icon so I randomly click an app it appears “You cannot apply this patch on this version of the application please re-install” just to let you know.

Hi, i have a macbook pro with sierra installed. Bought the digital version for TS3 + Ambitions + Season, expansion packs won’t work but base game does. Tried the (digital) superpatch after uninstalling everything and reinstalling only Ambitions but it still won’t work. Don’t know what to do and I don’t even want to start on getting angry about my money.

I use disc and the patch won’t update I’m still at 1.67.2.024001 w/ 2010 macbook pro. Are there any new patches for physical copies and no digital downloads? I’ve also tried your origin tip, uninstalling seasons and reinstalling using origin, but my origin copy will not install to my computer. I am so frustrated. Please let me know if you have any further information thank you so much.

The current patch version is 1.67. What do you mean your Origin download won’t install? What error are you getting? After downloading and installing Seasons you should download and install the 1.67 patch for the digital version of the game.

I’ve used the super patch on the base game but I’m not sure how to use it on the EPs. When I open the patch, I can only go to Applications and select The Sims 3, not the shortcut for World Adventures, etc. When I try to do that, I get the message “You cannot apply this patch on this version of the application”.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding the directions. Am I only supposed to use this on the base game? I know that World Adventures has updates that need to be installed, am I supposed to just ignore this forever?

No, you have applied the super patch to take the game to 1.67 but a few of the earlier EP/SPs have small updates. The game is not prompting you for the 1.67 patch, it is prompting you for the EP/SP incremental patch. Just click yes.

I’ve never had any issues with the sims3 on my macbook air in the past however today I downloaded two packs from origin (late night and seasons) and now every time i attempt to play the game the launcher will show up but when i press play it tells me that the game is already open. however it isn’t. if i press F3 and hover behind the sims launcher i can see an ‘invisible” screen when highlighted it tells me its season. This did happen before however the error would never come up and i’d actually be able to click on it and go into the game but thats not working.

I do have other packs already installed and have had for about a year or so now, they’ve all been disks. my latest purchases have been digital and seasons is my latest one. any idea why it keeps telling me that my game is open when it is?

Hey, so I tried both methods and it seems that the error telling me that game was running when it wasn’t has stopped yet i’m still getting stuck on the blue plumber screen. is there anything I can try?

Hi! So I just got a new mac and updated it to High Sierra. On Sierra I was able to open the Sims 3 but since updating it gives me the ‘an unknown error has occurred’ box. I tried using the patch and nothing happened, so I uninstalled and reinstalled, then tried again, but it still isn’t working. Is there any other sort of fix?

So I’ve done a complete clean uninstall and reinstall of the Sims 3 base game and High-End Loft. I did the Super Patch on the base game after I reinstalled it. The game launcher now opens and allows me to click the play button, however once it’s loaded and arrives at the play screen where I’d pick a town it immediately shows a “Can’t authenticate this as the original disc” or “No disc found, insert High-End Loft to play”…. I’m so confused. Everything works fine except it doesn’t actually let me play now.
I sadly didn’t read any of these other comments before I updated my MAC to Sierra, but I don’t know what else to do in order to play. Let me know if there’s something I’m missing.

Hi, I did everything, completely uninstalled my game, reinstalled it, did the patch, deleted files, everything. And I’m still having an Unknown Error message when installing – all while only installing basegame. I don’t know what to do! Is it hopeless?

Hey, I downloaded the disc version and I have a MacBook Pro with Sierra 10.12.6, when I tried to control click on the file it starts to expand and then it says it wasn’t able to expand to desktop and “Error-1: Operation not permitted.” I’ve tried to unzip the file but that didn’t help either.

Ive been fighting this game with little help from EA. They just kept me doing the same things over again to try and fix this. With your help i fixed the last malfunction. I also know what not to try and install as far as expansions and stuff packs. TY

When I open the file it says “Unable to expand “To-9355-1.67.2.024017.tar.tgz” into “Downloads”. (Error 1 – Operation not permitted.)
I am using a 13 inch 2017 MacBook Pro with High Sierra 10.13.3. I have followed both instructions listed above several times if there wad the chance that either of them may work. But, I keep getting this message and cannot expand the file and get the plumbob symbol.

hi, I have a MacBook and its macOS high Sierra version 10.13.4. when I click the play button on the launcher it says “game could not be processed” I have tried to use this patch and once I click update it says ‘you cannot apply this patch on this version please re-install” I have installed this game with origin with discs. what do I need to do to be able to play the game? thank you!

Hi, I have a MacBook Pro running macOS high Sierra version 10.13.4. I’ve been getting the ‘service initialisation failed 0x065d0274’ error. I’ve installed the super patch for digital download (origin) and am still getting the same error message. My launcher shows that Sims 3 is running with the correct patch yet will not progress past the error message. Any suggestions?

I have a newer iMac and I recently bought an expansion pack for the Sims 3, but now my game will not load. Whenever I press the Sims 3 game to open it, a tab appears saying that “unknown causes occurred.” I downloaded the super-patch but nothing has changed. I can’t even see if the update worked, as nothing about my game will load. I’ve spent a lot of money on the game and I feel like I wasted it all, as my game will not work at all. Any suggestions, as to what I can do?

Would someone be able to give me some assistance in which version I should download? I bought the base game on disc in 2012, but that physical copy is long lost & for as long as I remember I have been downloading the game using Origin, & most of my expansions are purchased CD keys

Is there another way to check that the install was successful, besides using the launcher? I am trying to patch my base game so I can play University Life, but I am still getting the Unknown Error message before the launcher will open.

Hi. I’ve downloaded the sims 3 and when I click play and wait to start, An “Important Message” pops up and says “There’s is a problem connecting to the server. Please ensure your internet connection is active”

I have been trying to get the Sims 3 to Work and it won’t. I have reinstalled and uninstalled and patched the digital one and I am still getting the, “Important Message! There is a problem connecting to the server. Please ensure your internet connection is active. If the problem persists try again later.” HELP!

When I get to the part where I have to ‘select’ the sims 3 file to ‘update’, I cannot find it in applications. When I look in finder normally it is also not there. Should I have reinstalled it again before doing this patch thing? I don’t have a lot of knowledge about this. Plz let me know, thanks a lot.

Hi, I have downloaded the super patch for my base game but I am still getting the error message that I am unable to connect to the EA servers and to try again in a few minutes. I am currently running on Mac OS Sierra and my Mac is from late 2009. It used to run sims 3 with absolutely no issues 😦 just wondering if theres anything else you could suggest? 🙂

Hi BluebellFlora,
Thanks so much for all your help and support with TS3.
I recently resolved the ‘cannot connect to server’ error with the paul.dll file, but now the game crashes whenever I ‘finish’ creating a Sim! I thought I might need to install this patch, but my game version is already 1.67.2.024017. Does this mean the patch wouldn’t be any help to me?
Any other suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!